Jonathan Singer '92 Named 2013 Life Sciences MVP by Law360

This article original appeared in Law360 on December 17, 2013 on their website at law360.com.

Fish & Richardson PC's Jonathan E. Singer in 2013 sealed a major Federal Circuit victory directing courts to look at all objective facts when deciding the obviousness of drug patents, one of several high-profile triumphs that scored him a spot among Law360's Life Sciences MVPs.

Singer cemented his win for Cephalon Inc. when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the appellate court's ruling, and the significance was evident in complaints from petitioner Mylan Inc. that the outcome "has the potential to disrupt the availability and affordability of generic medications."

At issue was muscle relaxant Amrix, which boasted a novel extended-release formulation but whose active ingredient was nothing new. To show that the formulation was nonetheless deserving of protection, Singer called a witness who described how a laboratory with exceptional prowess in creating extended-release products had invested $10 million to produce a long-acting version of the muscle relaxant, but ultimately failed.

Nonetheless, a district judge found that the longer-acting version was obvious. "What the lower court did was look at the technical documents and say, 'You just did A plus B, and that's obvious because anybody could do A plus B,'" Singer recalled.

At the Federal Circuit, however, Singer persuaded judges to take a more expansive view and recognize that other drugmakers had tried and failed to create a long-lasting form of cyclobenzaprine. "You've got to give weight to the real world," Singer told Law360. Read more about Life Sciences MVP Jon Singer and the significant victories he led.